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On March 08 2021 01:19 Mohdoo wrote:Show nested quote +On March 07 2021 06:18 mierin wrote:
My, how the goalposts move.
When Trump + republicans had presidency and senate: Those Republicans are in charge, we can't implement any change!
When Dems have the presidency + a split senate which the VP can overturn: (write a one page essay about political nuance and why even though Democrats are technically in charge, no changes can be implemented).
I've been done with this for a long time, and I definitely saw it coming. I'm not even convinced the majority of Democrats even want the $15 minimum wage-- I would happily vote for a 200% tax increase to help the poor just to make myself look good because I know it'd never pass. "Vote blue no matter who", possibly the cult-iest saying I've ever heard, sure is working wonders.
I wish for once I could vote FOR someone instead of AGAINST someone else. The stimulus package probably just wouldn’t have even happened if Democrats didn’t take the senate. This vote was important because it’s forcing senators to actually take a position and be accountable. I wish the minimum wage got bumped up relative to inflation but I don’t think it’s reasonable to pretend nothing has gotten done just because a lot of people really wanted 15 min wage. People have already forgotten what it was like for Trump to be president. 8 Democrats voting against the min wage is not equivalent to the Republican Party. And It’s been less than 2 months. It’s totally wild seeing how much people expected in the first 2 months.
I would like to add that they voted in accordance with the parlamentarian. in a country of laws process matters, Mitch McConnell knew that. he fucked Dems more than they would like to admit by being the king of process(having a majority also helped lol). and where process was not clear he was a shrewd ninja turtle and established whatever fit into his narrative.
chances of a minimum wage are actually not bad during Biden's term, as Hawley and Romney for example also introduced bills.
add to that, that in a year - just in time for the mid terms - the worst of covid could be behind us. that is not a fantasy anymore. vaccinations are going splendidly, that helps immensely preventing a severe course of covid. which in turn will make it easier to open up shops, restaurants, cinemas etc.
the covid relief bill is on track - they should call it Biden Bucks. and it's massive and the impact will be profound - so much that some economists even believe it could overheat the economy and lead to quite a bit of inflation, but alas the problem with prognosis is that it is about the future...
if Dems play their hands right and for once communicate their successes better... I think many are underestimating their mid term chances out of frustration and/or spite.
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Manchin is saying he is in favor of filibuster reform. Specifically, that it should be "more painful to use". So we may see some progress there. (There are a shitload of reforms that would effectively end its use without eliminating it). Said it on fox news sunday.
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If Biden can get to 2022 with the filibuster dead, PR/DC statehood and some form of HR1, I would consider that a huge success. Those are the core loopholes that the fascist takeover depends on, and short of murdering FPTP, there's nothing more important for the country in the long run than getting rid of them.
They're also fairly dry, technical reforms that the right-leaning dems can probably slide past their constituents if they virtue-signal loudly enough on some woke issue at the same time. Personally, I think the party is holding the whip for those kinds of votes.
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On March 08 2021 04:31 Nevuk wrote:
Manchin is saying he is in favor of filibuster reform. Specifically, that it should be "more painful to use". So we may see some progress there. (There are a shitload of reforms that would effectively end its use without eliminating it). Said it on fox news sunday.
He is still saying he fundamentally believes in the idea of the senate needing more than a majority in some kinda purist bullshit. Appeals to tradition are complete garbage.
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On March 08 2021 07:56 Mohdoo wrote:Show nested quote +On March 08 2021 04:31 Nevuk wrote:
Manchin is saying he is in favor of filibuster reform. Specifically, that it should be "more painful to use". So we may see some progress there. (There are a shitload of reforms that would effectively end its use without eliminating it). Said it on fox news sunday. He is still saying he fundamentally believes in the idea of the senate needing more than a majority in some kinda purist bullshit. Appeals to tradition are complete garbage.
Appeals to tradition also don't make any sense here. The current form of the filibuster is considerably younger than Manchin is.
Anyways, if they make it technical enough no one will really understand the reforms anyways. Reform is a dead obvious way to satisfy his "not eliminate" language earlier and is an obvious step to take once McConnell kills something super popular again. If we make it so you have to talk, and you have to talk about the actual thing you're filibustering, I'm positive the GOP would stop doing it.
It's a shame about the 15$ minimum wage, but I never thought there was more than 10-15% chance after we didn't take 55 democratic seats in the Senate. Baffling that so many dem senators went on the record as being against it, when most of them aren't in seats where it would help at all.
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On March 08 2021 07:56 Mohdoo wrote:Show nested quote +On March 08 2021 04:31 Nevuk wrote:
Manchin is saying he is in favor of filibuster reform. Specifically, that it should be "more painful to use". So we may see some progress there. (There are a shitload of reforms that would effectively end its use without eliminating it). Said it on fox news sunday. He is still saying he fundamentally believes in the idea of the senate needing more than a majority in some kinda purist bullshit. Appeals to tradition are complete garbage.
True, but people having to actually talk while doing it instead of just going "nah" would be an improvement.
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On March 08 2021 01:19 Mohdoo wrote:Show nested quote +On March 07 2021 06:18 mierin wrote:
My, how the goalposts move.
When Trump + republicans had presidency and senate: Those Republicans are in charge, we can't implement any change!
When Dems have the presidency + a split senate which the VP can overturn: (write a one page essay about political nuance and why even though Democrats are technically in charge, no changes can be implemented).
I've been done with this for a long time, and I definitely saw it coming. I'm not even convinced the majority of Democrats even want the $15 minimum wage-- I would happily vote for a 200% tax increase to help the poor just to make myself look good because I know it'd never pass. "Vote blue no matter who", possibly the cult-iest saying I've ever heard, sure is working wonders.
I wish for once I could vote FOR someone instead of AGAINST someone else. The stimulus package probably just wouldn’t have even happened if Democrats didn’t take the senate. This vote was important because it’s forcing senators to actually take a position and be accountable. I wish the minimum wage got bumped up relative to inflation but I don’t think it’s reasonable to pretend nothing has gotten done just because a lot of people really wanted 15 min wage. People have already forgotten what it was like for Trump to be president. 8 Democrats voting against the min wage is not equivalent to the Republican Party. And It’s been less than 2 months. It’s totally wild seeing how much people expected in the first 2 months.
Trump is not the bar, this is another problem with US Politics, we just had Trump and now Donald fucking Trump is the bar. "At least hes not Trump" is not an acceptable response to anything happening, we have got to have higher standards than that, by letting Trump be the bar by which we judge our politicians we excuse their actions far beyond what any sane democracy would consider fair. Just because Republicans are appalling does not mean that Democrats should be looked at favorably when they say things and then try to weasel out of having to do them.
Also, two months is about 2/3 of Biden's first hundred days and the first hundred days are the most impactful of a president's term. Bills will not pass the Senate normally, 60 votes is not possible, removing the filibuster is not possible, budget reconciliation was the opportunity to make a big affirmative push indicating that the will was there to actually make some substantive changes when they had one of what will amount to very few opportunities.
I think Nevuk had said before we get three budget reconciliations before the midterms, so thats three times they can actually make changes and given that Democrats went out of their way to juke power during this initial attempt bodes extremely poorly to any real meaningful change occurring before Republicans kick Democrat's asses in the 2022 elections, from which point we're back to a gridlocked do-nothing congress. People expected a lot from this budget reconciliation bill because this was the litmus test for, "Does Biden intend to seriously pursue any real change?" and the entire debacle indicated that the answer is, "not if he can possibly help it."
I agree that its good we made these senators take positions though, I hope to god these senators eat massive shit from their constituents and lose their elections so that maybe for a politician has to face some proper consequences, but I won't hold my breath.
The republicans are a less diverse group then the dems and they agree on more. If you were to put the 5 biggest Canadian parties into the 2 American 4.5 would be in the dems and .5 in the reps.
+ Show Spoiler +Republicans have people like Murkowski and Collins that should qualify as swing votes to Democrats presuming they weren't so strongly whipped, Collins is a Red senator in a Blue state. Republicans also have neo-fascists in Ted Cruz in their party, they're not really all that ideologically homogenous, at least not incomparably more so than Democrats are.
Talking about placing other country's political parties into America's also doesnt work because few countries are going have such openly fascist parties, most of them are going to be the left and thus fill up the Democrats in comparison, its not something that works given how far right the US is as a whole.
The blame is so misplaced. It is like Trump saying that because he was leading early he mist be cheated, it is easy through numbers and trends to see why this is false. It is also easy to look at the numbers and see that, for example, if you kick Manchin, or you force him to reps, the progressives don't get a seat, the reps do.
+ Show Spoiler +I need you to answer these questions when you try and compare the massive disadvantages facing non Democrat/Republican candidates to Trump crying "cheaters!"
Does having lots and lots of money help you get elected?
Does not having to take time off of your job help you get elected?
Does having a huge political apparatus at your back help you get elected?
You can't seriously believe that elections in this country are so fair and balanced that these things make such a minimal impact that that Trump calling "cheaters!" comparison is valid.
Just like black people face tons of systematic disadvantages that they have to fight through to succeed, there are tons of hurdles that non Republicans and non Democrats have to face in order to gain any political power given the structure of how the US handles elections and politics at large. Some candidates can overcome these disadvantages, but they exist and are a huge factor in the uphill battle when facing incumbent Republicans and Democrats.
The other option is go the GH/Trump route where you call for inserection and revolution. My take is that sounds good but the dictator no matter the political leaning is TERRIBLE for the people. So the better strategy is to figure out how to get more progressive votes, in the places you need them (with the understanding moderate is still better than rep.) And get to a point where the moderate dems are complaining that not enough of there stuff is passed.
+ Show Spoiler +The US literally just experienced a neo-fascist attempted insurrection. This was not a unique phenomenon that Trump inspired, its a result of letting Democrats fail to improve the country and letting them chase the Republicans into the gutter and having the American people feel so venomous towards their government that Donald Trump looks good. If you're interested in preventing your neighbors to the south from becoming an aggressive advanced military fascist nightmare scape then call out Democrats when they say, "2000 dollar checks immediately!" and go down to "you'll get 1400 dollar checks about two months later!" and when they claim they support a 15 dollar minimum wage and then let Manchin and Sinema cock block them without being willing to actively whip their votes.
The other options aren't Dictators, thats nonsense, there are plenty of other options, one is Democrats stop dealing in this asinine political strategy that propping up preferred centrist candidates is somehow right. Stop putting so much money into predetermined candidates, let the popular candidates rise to the top, and if their values don't align properly with the values of the party then whip their votes, or don't let them run as a Democrat.
You take the US' structure as somehow inherently ultra-democratic but its not, Democrats are beholden to noone but themselves, Biden could win 100% of all delegate votes in their primary and they could say, "Yeah, thats nice, our candidate is Buttigieg." These political parties are not pure vessels through which the will of the people speaks, they have enormous power and influence over the people that take advantage of their money and apparatus' and choosing not to take advantage of that like Republicans will do is bullshit. Democrats dont have to tolerate any particular political views in their party, they have myriad ways to stifle people in the party (Katie Porter being stripped of her committee seats is a good example.)
Right now being mad that the Dems are ignoring democracy and not forcing through what we want, because we know better then the electorate is not something I can get behind. It never works out well.
+ Show Spoiler +Democrats ARE ignoring democracy by actively working against popular policy, and the rationale is its because they know better than their constituents. If Americans had the option to vote on these things without having to use representatives we'd have a 15 dollar minimum wage and universal healthcare. Democracy is not a defense for how politicians in this country vote given how ill aligned their priorities are with those of the American people who they theoretically represent. This belief that we should let shit slow roll and naturally take however long it takes by following this Democrat orthodoxy from the 90s (that is largely god awful strategically) is cruel. I get the feeling people in this thread aren't of the classes that experience police brutality, or severe economic distress, or infrastructure failure to the degree of Flint's water crisis or have schools with mushrooms growing out of the damned walls, https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/2016/01/12/detroit-teacher-says-sick-outs-are-in-response-to-deplorable-conditions-at-dps-schools/This is the deplorable state of the US' lower classes, this did not happen because Republicans exclusively willed it so, this shit happens because neither party represents the vast majority of this country and are living in willfull ignorance to the conditions that so many people live through. If Democrats gave a shit and actually proved to the people of this country that when they had power they would bust their asses and do whatever they could to improve their lives they would continue to be given that power. In the average legislative district in our experiment, seven out of 10 constituents support eliminating mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenders. But when legislators were asked how many of their constituents they believed supported such a policy, they responded that fewer than two out of 10 constituents did — even if they’d seen their own constituents’ preferences. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/11/opinion/politicians-voters.htmlThe more money a member of Congress gets from donors outside the district, the less that member represents his or her constituents’ preferences. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/08/17/members-of-congress-follow-the-money-not-the-voters-heres-the-evidence/If Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema fuck up the Democrats ability to pass policy and that damages down ballot Democrat races then they are NOT worth keeping around. Proving to the electorate that you will fight for them and what they want will do infinitely more for securing Democrat electoral power than protecting Joe Manchin at every corner because he might lose to a Republican if he isnt propped up and showing the electorate that you're incapable or unwilling or oblivious to doing what it takes to fight to improve their lives. Stop accepting their bullshit, stop defending them when they're clearly doing their best to do the barest minimum expected of them, hold them to a higher standard for the love of god.
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"Trump is not the bar...saying 'at least he's not Trump' is not acceptable"
Thanks for saying that! It's 100% true. "At least he's not Trump" is exactly the attitude that leads to no progress.
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On March 08 2021 22:21 mierin wrote:
"Trump is not the bar...saying 'at least he's not Trump' is not acceptable"
Thanks for saying that! It's 100% true. "At least he's not Trump" is exactly the attitude that leads to no progress.
Its an illusion that is deliberately put forward by people in power, as if a slight reduction in the rate at which inequality is growing is some kind of victory.
Everyone was just desperate for Trump to be gone anyway. Some part of me thinks he was a plant there to save News organizations from bankruptcy and make the establishment look competent.
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There are a lot of GOP senators retiring. Roy Blunt announced today, bringing it up to 5. (The other four : Sens. Richard Shelby (R-AL), Rob Portman (R-OH), Richard Burr (R-NC), and Pat Toomey (R-PA) )
Mconnell is also making a bit of noise that implies he's either planning on it or not long for this world. His wife's scandal is breaking at the same time as news that he's trying to get KY to pass a law that prevents Beshear from replacing him with a democrat if he retires.
It's weird. This is the sort of thing you see when politicians think that their re-election campaign would be super difficult, but everyone in the news media is saying that it should be a GOP favored year. Now, some of them may get primaried but that's not true of like, Blunt, Burr or Shelby. Three of them are from swing-ish states as well, making their retirement affect the calculus a fair amount.
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On March 09 2021 01:30 Nevuk wrote:
There are a lot of GOP senators retiring. Roy Blunt announced today, bringing it up to 5. (The other four : Sens. Richard Shelby (R-AL), Rob Portman (R-OH), Richard Burr (R-NC), and Pat Toomey (R-PA) )
Mconnell is also making a bit of noise that implies he's either planning on it or not long for this world. His wife's scandal is breaking at the same time as news that he's trying to get KY to pass a law that prevents Beshear from replacing him with a democrat if he retires.
It's weird. This is the sort of thing you see when politicians think that their re-election campaign would be super difficult, but everyone in the news media is saying that it should be a GOP favored year. Now, some of them may get primaried but that's not true of like, Blunt, Burr or Shelby. Three of them are from swing-ish states as well, making their retirement affect the calculus a fair amount.
I think its just a lot more fun ruling as a king. If the filibusters is at least reformed, suddenly these sociopaths egos are challenged.
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United States42778 Posts
On March 06 2021 12:49 Zambrah wrote:
Vote Blue No Matter Who really feels like its wound up being Vote Blue Ha Ha Fuck You.
You’re taking half of the strategy in isolation and then identifying that it doesn’t work without the other half. Voting for the lesser of two evils in a simple plurality system is always correct. You should absolutely vote for Hitler over mecha-Hitler because mecha-Hitler’s heat vision makes him harder to assassinate. It doesn’t mean you support Hitler, just that you recognize he’s preferable to mecha-Hitler. You correctly identify that there is no incentive here for Hitler to actually be a good candidate, he must only be slightly less bad than mecha-Hitler and he can achieve that easily due to the lack of built-in plasma cannons.
But this should be applied at every single contestable level, not just the final election. You should support up and coming left wing politicians and support their efforts to primary their own party members and so forth. The earlier elections are more important than the later ones, the earlier ones decide which two evils are to be chosen between and that’s where you get to mitigate the potential evil. The strategy relies on participation at every level.
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On March 08 2021 17:22 Zambrah wrote:Show nested quote +On March 08 2021 01:19 Mohdoo wrote:On March 07 2021 06:18 mierin wrote:
My, how the goalposts move.
When Trump + republicans had presidency and senate: Those Republicans are in charge, we can't implement any change!
When Dems have the presidency + a split senate which the VP can overturn: (write a one page essay about political nuance and why even though Democrats are technically in charge, no changes can be implemented).
I've been done with this for a long time, and I definitely saw it coming. I'm not even convinced the majority of Democrats even want the $15 minimum wage-- I would happily vote for a 200% tax increase to help the poor just to make myself look good because I know it'd never pass. "Vote blue no matter who", possibly the cult-iest saying I've ever heard, sure is working wonders.
I wish for once I could vote FOR someone instead of AGAINST someone else. The stimulus package probably just wouldn’t have even happened if Democrats didn’t take the senate. This vote was important because it’s forcing senators to actually take a position and be accountable. I wish the minimum wage got bumped up relative to inflation but I don’t think it’s reasonable to pretend nothing has gotten done just because a lot of people really wanted 15 min wage. People have already forgotten what it was like for Trump to be president. 8 Democrats voting against the min wage is not equivalent to the Republican Party. And It’s been less than 2 months. It’s totally wild seeing how much people expected in the first 2 months. Trump is not the bar, this is another problem with US Politics, we just had Trump and now Donald fucking Trump is the bar. "At least hes not Trump" is not an acceptable response to anything happening + Show Spoiler +, we have got to have higher standards than that, by letting Trump be the bar by which we judge our politicians we excuse their actions far beyond what any sane democracy would consider fair. Just because Republicans are appalling does not mean that Democrats should be looked at favorably when they say things and then try to weasel out of having to do them. Also, two months is about 2/3 of Biden's first hundred days and the first hundred days are the most impactful of a president's term. Bills will not pass the Senate normally, 60 votes is not possible, removing the filibuster is not possible, budget reconciliation was the opportunity to make a big affirmative push indicating that the will was there to actually make some substantive changes when they had one of what will amount to very few opportunities. I think Nevuk had said before we get three budget reconciliations before the midterms, so thats three times they can actually make changes and given that Democrats went out of their way to juke power during this initial attempt bodes extremely poorly to any real meaningful change occurring before Republicans kick Democrat's asses in the 2022 elections, from which point we're back to a gridlocked do-nothing congress. People expected a lot from this budget reconciliation bill because this was the litmus test for, "Does Biden intend to seriously pursue any real change?" and the entire debacle indicated that the answer is, "not if he can possibly help it." I agree that its good we made these senators take positions though, I hope to god these senators eat massive shit from their constituents and lose their elections so that maybe for a politician has to face some proper consequences, but I won't hold my breath. The republicans are a less diverse group then the dems and they agree on more. If you were to put the 5 biggest Canadian parties into the 2 American 4.5 would be in the dems and .5 in the reps. + Show Spoiler +Republicans have people like Murkowski and Collins that should qualify as swing votes to Democrats presuming they weren't so strongly whipped, Collins is a Red senator in a Blue state. Republicans also have neo-fascists in Ted Cruz in their party, they're not really all that ideologically homogenous, at least not incomparably more so than Democrats are.
Talking about placing other country's political parties into America's also doesnt work because few countries are going have such openly fascist parties, most of them are going to be the left and thus fill up the Democrats in comparison, its not something that works given how far right the US is as a whole. The blame is so misplaced. It is like Trump saying that because he was leading early he mist be cheated, it is easy through numbers and trends to see why this is false. It is also easy to look at the numbers and see that, for example, if you kick Manchin, or you force him to reps, the progressives don't get a seat, the reps do. + Show Spoiler +I need you to answer these questions when you try and compare the massive disadvantages facing non Democrat/Republican candidates to Trump crying "cheaters!"
Does having lots and lots of money help you get elected?
Does not having to take time off of your job help you get elected?
Does having a huge political apparatus at your back help you get elected?
You can't seriously believe that elections in this country are so fair and balanced that these things make such a minimal impact that that Trump calling "cheaters!" comparison is valid.
Just like black people face tons of systematic disadvantages that they have to fight through to succeed, there are tons of hurdles that non Republicans and non Democrats have to face in order to gain any political power given the structure of how the US handles elections and politics at large. Some candidates can overcome these disadvantages, but they exist and are a huge factor in the uphill battle when facing incumbent Republicans and Democrats. The other option is go the GH/Trump route where you call for inserection and revolution. My take is that sounds good but the dictator no matter the political leaning is TERRIBLE for the people. So the better strategy is to figure out how to get more progressive votes, in the places you need them (with the understanding moderate is still better than rep.) And get to a point where the moderate dems are complaining that not enough of there stuff is passed. + Show Spoiler +The US literally just experienced a neo-fascist attempted insurrection. This was not a unique phenomenon that Trump inspired, its a result of letting Democrats fail to improve the country and letting them chase the Republicans into the gutter and having the American people feel so venomous towards their government that Donald Trump looks good. If you're interested in preventing your neighbors to the south from becoming an aggressive advanced military fascist nightmare scape then call out Democrats when they say, "2000 dollar checks immediately!" and go down to "you'll get 1400 dollar checks about two months later!" and when they claim they support a 15 dollar minimum wage and then let Manchin and Sinema cock block them without being willing to actively whip their votes.
The other options aren't Dictators, thats nonsense, there are plenty of other options, one is Democrats stop dealing in this asinine political strategy that propping up preferred centrist candidates is somehow right. Stop putting so much money into predetermined candidates, let the popular candidates rise to the top, and if their values don't align properly with the values of the party then whip their votes, or don't let them run as a Democrat.
You take the US' structure as somehow inherently ultra-democratic but its not, Democrats are beholden to noone but themselves, Biden could win 100% of all delegate votes in their primary and they could say, "Yeah, thats nice, our candidate is Buttigieg." These political parties are not pure vessels through which the will of the people speaks, they have enormous power and influence over the people that take advantage of their money and apparatus' and choosing not to take advantage of that like Republicans will do is bullshit. Democrats dont have to tolerate any particular political views in their party, they have myriad ways to stifle people in the party (Katie Porter being stripped of her committee seats is a good example.) Right now being mad that the Dems are ignoring democracy and not forcing through what we want, because we know better then the electorate is not something I can get behind. It never works out well. + Show Spoiler +Democrats ARE ignoring democracy by actively working against popular policy, and the rationale is its because they know better than their constituents. If Americans had the option to vote on these things without having to use representatives we'd have a 15 dollar minimum wage and universal healthcare. Democracy is not a defense for how politicians in this country vote given how ill aligned their priorities are with those of the American people who they theoretically represent. This belief that we should let shit slow roll and naturally take however long it takes by following this Democrat orthodoxy from the 90s (that is largely god awful strategically) is cruel. I get the feeling people in this thread aren't of the classes that experience police brutality, or severe economic distress, or infrastructure failure to the degree of Flint's water crisis or have schools with mushrooms growing out of the damned walls, https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/2016/01/12/detroit-teacher-says-sick-outs-are-in-response-to-deplorable-conditions-at-dps-schools/This is the deplorable state of the US' lower classes, this did not happen because Republicans exclusively willed it so, this shit happens because neither party represents the vast majority of this country and are living in willfull ignorance to the conditions that so many people live through. If Democrats gave a shit and actually proved to the people of this country that when they had power they would bust their asses and do whatever they could to improve their lives they would continue to be given that power. In the average legislative district in our experiment, seven out of 10 constituents support eliminating mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenders. But when legislators were asked how many of their constituents they believed supported such a policy, they responded that fewer than two out of 10 constituents did — even if they’d seen their own constituents’ preferences. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/11/opinion/politicians-voters.htmlThe more money a member of Congress gets from donors outside the district, the less that member represents his or her constituents’ preferences. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/08/17/members-of-congress-follow-the-money-not-the-voters-heres-the-evidence/If Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema fuck up the Democrats ability to pass policy and that damages down ballot Democrat races then they are NOT worth keeping around. Proving to the electorate that you will fight for them and what they want will do infinitely more for securing Democrat electoral power than protecting Joe Manchin at every corner because he might lose to a Republican if he isnt propped up and showing the electorate that you're incapable or unwilling or oblivious to doing what it takes to fight to improve their lives. Stop accepting their bullshit, stop defending them when they're clearly doing their best to do the barest minimum expected of them, hold them to a higher standard for the love of god.
Well said, but that part in particular should be repeated until "better than Trump" (variations incl.) is never said as a sincere response to the ongoing suffering/death of people imo.
On March 09 2021 01:30 Nevuk wrote:
There are a lot of GOP senators retiring. Roy Blunt announced today, bringing it up to 5. (The other four : Sens. Richard Shelby (R-AL), Rob Portman (R-OH), Richard Burr (R-NC), and Pat Toomey (R-PA) )
Mconnell is also making a bit of noise that implies he's either planning on it or not long for this world. His wife's scandal is breaking at the same time as news that he's trying to get KY to pass a law that prevents Beshear from replacing him with a democrat if he retires.
It's weird. This is the sort of thing you see when politicians think that their re-election campaign would be super difficult, but everyone in the news media is saying that it should be a GOP favored year. Now, some of them may get primaried but that's not true of like, Blunt, Burr or Shelby. Three of them are from swing-ish states as well, making their retirement affect the calculus a fair amount.
Burr was also censured by the NC GOP for voting to convict Trump.
www.politico.com
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Biden being an improvement over Trump isn't a reason to never push for anything more. You can celebrate victories without being satisfied with the current situation. The reason Trump is relevant is people need to understand what % of the country voted for Trump rather than Biden. That divide exists and so does various other divides.
There is a huge cultural battle to be fought to help change people's minds and get away from conservatism. I think a lot of people just don't understand how many minds still need to be changed. Millions of people voted for Trump because they wanted what Trump wanted rather than Biden. Given the voters we've got, I am happy with the progress being made and hope a lot more also happens.
The vote for $15 wasn't even close. A democrat senator might say $15 isn't enough, or a democrat senator might say $15 is insanely high. This reflects the differences in the people electing these senators. Sinema is not likely to be primaried due to her vote. That means we have minds to change in Arizona.
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Biden and Kamala supposedly support $15, that they aren't leading the mind changing in states like Arizona is demonstrating the kind of faux ambition I think Zambrah is getting at.
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On March 08 2021 06:44 Belisarius wrote:
If Biden can get to 2022 with the filibuster dead, PR/DC statehood and some form of HR1, I would consider that a huge success. Those are the core loopholes that the fascist takeover depends on, and short of murdering FPTP, there's nothing more important for the country in the long run than getting rid of them.
Lol what? You do realize that both Italy and Germany both had a parliamentary system, right?
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United States42778 Posts
On March 09 2021 03:30 dutchfriese wrote:Show nested quote +On March 08 2021 06:44 Belisarius wrote:
If Biden can get to 2022 with the filibuster dead, PR/DC statehood and some form of HR1, I would consider that a huge success. Those are the core loopholes that the fascist takeover depends on, and short of murdering FPTP, there's nothing more important for the country in the long run than getting rid of them.
Lol what? You do realize that both Italy and Germany both had a parliamentary system, right?
I don’t understand this post. Which things did he say that parliamentary systems don’t have?
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Long term lurker, first time poster. I tend to lean a little bit more conservative, so bear with me.
If I may say, in regards to the $15 minimum wage, I'm not sure that the no vote wasn't representative of the population. There are places, mainly in cities, where an argument for $15 is fair, and far more places where raising the minimum wage should have been done long ago, but a blanket $15 minimum wage will decimatw the economies of rural cities and towns. The idea of it being for the greater good just simply ignores those places that have hundreds and thousands of people in their population in order to satisfy the population of bigger cities in which minimum wage raises are necessary.
For example, a cost of living comparison between Huntsville, Alabama and Seattle, Washington shows that an income of $100,174 goes as far as only $50,000 in Huntsville.
www.bestplaces.net
Over doubling the minimum wage in this region destroys local businesses and ruins the economy there. Rather, at least from my perspective, it makes sense to do things at a local and state level, similar to how it is done now.
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EPT
